Teacher's Guide for Fire in My Backyard

Background for a 15-20 minute discussion with students who are familiar with fire ecology concepts.

• As urban areas expand into wildland areas and as an increasing number of vacation homes are built near wildland recreation areas, the conflicts associated with wildland fire become more commonplace. Just as people and their property are threatened by wildland fires, wildlands are threatened by human -caused fires. Thus students, parents and their communities benefit by knowing the risks and protection stategies related to home development in wildlands.
• In the 1980s, wildfires burned large tracts of land across the United States. More fires have impacted even larger tracks of land and personal property in the 1990s. A dream home built in an idealistic setting can be ravaged by fire in a matter of minutes. Likewise, the exemplary scenery that attracted homeowners to the setting can be altered, often because of the inadvertent action of the homeowner.

Objectives:
Students will increase their awareness of fire in the wildland/urban interface and learn fire prevention measures.

- Students should have the opportunity to learn strategies to protect their home, family and the wildlands. The National Wildland Urban Interface Fire protection Intiative organized by the National Fire protection Association (NFPA) provides an excellent educational experience to help students begin to understand the complexity of wildland/urban fire interplay, which refeers to the geographical areas where formely "urban structures-mainly residences-are built in close proximity to the flammable fuels naturally found in wildland areas, including forests, prairies, hillsides and valleys. The results can be aesthetically desirable...or disastrous" (NFPA)

Activities:
Discussion of conflicts and difficult decisions made concerning fire and wildland/urban interface.

-The Issues:
In a case study of a destructive wildland /urban interface fire, NFPA lists four reasons for the increased risk of fire occurrence in wildland/urban interface:

1. Wildfires continue to ignite and threaten homes in the wildlands.

2. Wildfires continue to present particular problems to fire protection agencies

3. Lack of good vegetative management predisposes areas to wildfires.

4. Unless specific preventative measures are taken by homeowners and local goveernments homes will continue to be lost and people's lives will continue to be in danger.